John Elflein
Research expert covering health and health care
Health in U.S. states - Statistics & Facts
As of 2022, the states with the highest share of population reporting their health status to be just fair or poor included West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alabama. At that time around 27 percent of women and 24 percent of men in West Virginia reported their health status to be just fair or poor. Although the United States is one the the richest countries in the world, health disparities within the country remain prevalent. These disparities are most often based on race and ethnicity, income level, gender, and the region or state in which a person lives. Health conditions and risks may vary between the different states in the United States because of geography, socioeconomic policies, urbanicity, and disparities in health education and access to health care.
Different diseases for different states
Certain diseases impact specific states more than others for a variety of reasons, some of which are simple to explain while others are more complicated. For example, Lyme disease is a growing problem in many of the states located in the Northeast but is almost nonexistent in many other states due to the habitat preference of the ticks that carry the disease. However, for less clear reasons, the incidence rate for prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer among men in the United States, varies significantly by state. In 2021, the incidence rate for prostate cancer in Arizona was 70 per 100,000 population while it was around 150 per 100,000 population in Connecticut. If it is diagnosed early enough, the survival rate for this type of cancer is very high, however, death rates from prostate cancer also vary from state to state, most likely due to screening and treatment access. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States overall, but here too, disparities between states exist, with nine of the ten states with the highest death rates from heart disease all found in the South. Lifestyle habits, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, physical inactivity, and diet, most likely contribute to this discrepancy.Health risk factors
Many of the health imbalances between the different U.S. states can be attributed to known health risk factors. For example, rates of smoking, a habit with known health risks, differ greatly by state. In 2022, around 20 percent of adults in West Virginia smoked, compared to just nine percent of adults in California. Rates of obesity, a growing problem across the entire United States, are also much higher in Southern states, with 40 percent of adults in Mississippi obese, compared to 25 percent of adults in Colorado. The ongoing opioid epidemic has also highlighted health disparities among the states as certain states have struggled more than others with an influx of illegal opioids and resulting addictions and overdose deaths. The state of Delaware reported around 55 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 population in 2022, while Nebraska had just under 12 overdose deaths per 100,000 population. However, that year, Nebraska had the seventh highest rate of binge drinking among all the U.S. states. Although some of the health disparities between the U.S. states can be improved through greater access to health care, others, such as the risk factors mentioned above, require the participation of the general public to improve their own personal health.
